yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant Android Development] SickOfItAll:
This did nothing for the compass, it still jumps all around when moving or even standing still. Google Sky is basically unusable. At first I thought the GPS was fixed, but today it was putting me about 30 miles away from my actual location.

I'm not sure if I want to wait for an update since I only have 8 days left to return the phone.
[Vibrant Android Development] jimmytran817:
works perfectly. now i can use yelp and or where. thank you!
[Vibrant Android Development] tengtengvn:
Mine works better after changing the setting. I'm getting 11 sats inside th house. Thanks!
[Vibrant Android Development] chucky80:
Thanks alot! This fixed my gps issue. Nice.
[Vibrant Android Development] DonutYankee:
I'm going to try the second solution tomorrow. I did a factory reset today. If these fixes don't work, I'm not sure what to do. I tried the original solution once and my GPS actually worked fine for a while...and then went back to completely useless, so it seems to be a software issue. I hope this is fully fixed along with the compass, which takes a good 5 seconds to respond to turning the phone. I have until the 30th to return this phone, and would really rather not have to because of Samsung completely screwing up the software. This, along with the random lag that happens once in a while needs to be fixed. Get to work, Samsung and Google.
[Vibrant Android Development] Qverse:
Good try but Not fixed

I have tried both fix solutions and big issues still come up. I did a factory reset today and these fixes don't work, I'm not sure what to do. Seem to work fine within a few miles then went crazy with navigation app. Samsung like most pushed out these phone knowing the bugs in them completely screwing up the software. Now it's a waiting game. Along with the random lag and background media scanning we to be tweaked or fixed Fast. Samsung and Google to Thread back with fixes...

Thanks to XDAdevelopers there is always Hope.
[Vibrant Android Development] ISprayCandy:
Okay the second fix helped a little, but when I use GPS Test from the market I have some weird stuff going on when compared to my G1. First my G1 views less satellites, but always has more in use. Second the snr on my g1 always matches the colors shown at the bottom of the test, but this phone stays gray. Finally and the weirdest one yet is the clock shown in GPS Test matches the current local time on my G1, but on my vibrant it's like 5 hours ahead :confused:... Any help or suggestions would be welcome!
[Vibrant Android Development] jblade1000:
this. +1 million. i actually tested it out all weekend by not having a sim card in the phone (i.e. no 3g data) and works as good as to be expected.

And on another note, why do people keep making new gps threads? they already exist! We need the mods to merge these, seriously...
[Vibrant Android Development] beren28:
Quick question to make sure I am understanding this.

When I run the get position test I get a list of satellites. Some of these have asterisks next to them. Am I correct in thinking that the ones with asterisks are the ones that are locked on, and that I should be looking for 10 to 12 asterisks?

Or have I completely misunderstood(I am new at this, after all.)
[Vibrant Android Development] merrifield69:
Thank you! :]
[Vibrant Android Development] TGA_Gunnman:
Ignore all of that and just look in the test screen to see how many Sats you have locked in it shows you a number just above.
[Vibrant Android Development] dschach:
When I run the get position test, it lists 10 to 12 satellites with a signal strength (i assume) but never shows a position. How long should I wait for a position?
[Vibrant Android Development] dschach:
I don't think the posted fix is a fix. All it does is enable use of the wireless network for position. Either way, gpsstatus shows that my vibrant does not lock onto any satellites.
[Vibrant Android Development] captain_awesome:
possible new fix..

hey everyone..

ive been a lurker here for a while and i decided to join so that i could post some recent results that i had while messing around with my GPS settings in this phone. i think i may have stumbled upon another working fix. i wanted to share my info with everyone here..

i was endlessly frustrated when my phone would seldom lock my position in any map software.. and when it would, it would show me 300+ feet off of my actual position and sometimes i would even then start drifting.. after doing a factory reset, i noticed that the performance was even worse!! after the reset GPS Test showed 0 satellites found or in use. every once in a while 1 or 2 bars would pop up but they would never sync.

i decided to mess around a bit in the H/W settings menu and found that after i performed a specific series of events, i went from having only network triangulation to having my GPS lock in standalone mode with an error of <5 meters.

-important notes: i performed this procedure outside with a clear view of the sky. i also did NOT change any server or port values like in the original fix. all of my gps settings are working as stock.

heres the procedure:

1) factory reset

2) *#*#1472365*#*# to enter H/W menu.

3) enter "application settings" menu. change "operation mode" value to "ms assisted"

4) exit and restart the phone.

after the phone restarts..

1a) *#*#1472365#*#* to re-enter h/w settings menu

2a) press "get position test." a list of satellites should now appear. i got 13 almost immediately. let this test run for several minutes. you should see the "accuracy" value steadily drop over time and finally plateau. mine dropped and finally settled between 3 and 5 meters.

3a) hit the back button to return to the h/w settings menu.

4a) press "application settings." change operation mode back to "standalone."

5a) go back to main menu. press "test application."

---once in the "test application" menu you will find 3 tests.

run ALL of the tests, and let them all complete. once the tests are complete, you can exit the h/w settings menu completely.

after this my gps locked on within a couple of seconds.. and i had an accuracy of 5 meters or less.

one more interesting thing of note: i noticed that even after the fix GPS test still shows my local time as being roughly 6 hours ahead of what it actually is. im sure this has something to do with the software in the phone not calculating the GPS satellite signal properly.. as one of the things the software is supposed to do is adjust for the local time. after applying this fix, im even more convinced that the problem is software related.

let me know if this works for anyone else! :)

thanks

-joe
[Vibrant Android Development] heygrl:
There are grumblings of an OTA fix already coming very soon, but I'll try your thing to see if it decreases the initial fix time. All except for the reset because I've already done that. I can deal with my GPS as it is, but I'd like the fix to be faster.
[Vibrant Android Development] captain_awesome:
great! let me know what happens. im curious as to how this will work on other devices.
[Vibrant Android Development] pdxfilms:
Well, did the entire suite of tests. So far, things are definitely better than they've been. I'm locking on within seconds, seeing 10-12, locked on to at least 4. All with higher signal than previous settings/experiments.

Tests took a while, and one thing did pop up that made me curious. When I started the Antenna Test, two error messages popped up in short succession of each other - "File Create is Failed!" and "File Open is Failed!". The test proceeded after that, and I let it run through over 100 tests. Kinda makes one wonder if there's a connection there. Perhaps the GPS is just unable to create or save proper config files??

Anyhow, this is by far the most success I've had with all the assorted fixes. I've tried many different iterations with no luck until now. And this success is without using wireless assist - just Standalone, Hot Start, Skyhook on, 100 accuracy, and supl.google.com

Nicely done Captain!
[Vibrant Android Development] aohmer:
Well tmobile tweeted me back that they know about this issue and are working on it at least.
[Vibrant Android Development] captain_awesome:
im glad to hear that this could indeed be a true fix and not just an isolated incident. :D lol

i have noticed that after leaving the phone sit for a while with nothing running, and then opening any gps app, it doesnt sync right away. it still takes a couple of seconds to sync up.. though not nearly as long as it did before the tests were run.

i noticed the file creation errors as well. your hypothesis could indeed be correct. i have also noticed that there seems to be a discrepancy between the actual local time and the time that is calculated by the device from the signal it receives from the satellites. the error on mine is about 6 hours.. which is close to the difference between GMT and my time zone.

this seems to be something that is shared among all vibrants that ive seen with GPS issues.. i'll be willing to bet that the software is just not calculating properly.
[Vibrant Android Development] pdxfilms:
Yeah, my clock is way off too. Seems to be a consistent error across all the phones.

I was planning on returning/swapping my phone within my 14 day Buyers Remorse window. But everything else on my phone is working well (just the GPS and compass are wonky), so I'm not sure if I should bother. If I didn't have to mail it back and wait for the replacement it would be easier!

Sure does feel like a firmware/software fix will do the trick. Fingers crossed...
[Vibrant Android Development] heygrl:
Yeah I'm getting way better results too, most importantly the initial lock is QUICK but the tracking isn't so hot. Still, it's a lot better than the purported fix in the first post that was near useless for me on my first Vibrant(and for countless others). I'll let you know if it the quick lock sticks and if it starts to fade away. I'm HOPING that T-Mobile/Samsung updates the GPS' tracking capabilities or that their fix improves it because for a good 10 seconds I was driving over some houses.

Leaving Wireless Networks on doesn't give me a GPS lock at home however.. that gives me something based on WiFi. This seems to be an issue with Android.

I'd leave it disabled but the Genie Widget's auto weather location feature doesn't work without it.

So yeah.. software bug for sure.
[Vibrant Android Development] heygrl:
Okay quick update, I don't know honestly. They all seem to lose that quick lock after a while. I still lock 4 sats in my house but it takes longer now.
[Vibrant Android Development] HoOnZ:
So I did the fix when it first came out and my GPS was working fine but not that great. So I decided to just do a Factory reset and damn it's so much faster! Everything from GPS to the overall speed of the phone is increased! Not sure what happened but I'm happy that it's working exceptionally fast now. :) So if you're experiencing any type of slowness it's worth a shot to do a factory reset. Just backup before you do. :)

- JOhn
[Vibrant Android Development] heygrl:
I've been saying do a factory reset if you have serious lag (not the second long pauses when opening some apps like the Dialer; this is a firmware issue).. some people completely refuse to accept the thought. It's not something that you'll need to do more than once. My Vibrant has been running at the same exact speed.
[Vibrant Android Development] dschach:
The fixes posted here do not address the problem. From what I can see there are two issues, the time it takes for an initial fix and the accuracy of the fix once it is acquired. Some of the suggestions address the former but none address the latter. My vibrant will acquire a fix but the accuracy is all over the place. When it is working well it is 30 feet and when it isn't working well it can be 150 feet. That is terrible for a state of the art gps. My g1 acquires a fix faster and has a typical accuracy of between 10 and 20 feet. I love the speed and display on the Vibrant but I am returning mine today. If Samsung fixes the issue I will gladly buy one again but I don't want to own a phone with an unreliable gps.
[Vibrant Android Development] bromat80:
Seems to have helped out quite bit. This should be good enough for now until samsung fixes this problem.
[Vibrant Android Development] Longsh0t:
Can you elaborate on exactly what you did?
[Vibrant Android Development] pdxfilms:
Well, day 2 with the Captain's fix and things seem to be falling back to the unstable state from before. Slow to connect, slow to lock.

But the fact that this fix, as well as the others, worked even briefly, makes me feel even more like this is a software/firmware fix and not totally hopeless.

Fingers still crossed.
[Vibrant Android Development] pdxfilms:
Scratch that. Just rebooted and getting a quick lock again.

Interesting...
[Vibrant Android Development] salman.a:
I am on my fourth vibrant. All of them do the same thing. I didn't even change any settings this time around. Every time I get in my car and want to use my GPS I reboot the phone and it works fine for about 10 min. Then it losses the GPS signal and keeps searching and searching. Sometimes it finds a GPS signal but I always driving on areas where there are no roads according to GPS.

Not sure if this going to be fixed by samsung or not.....
[Vibrant Android Development] captain_awesome:
that's really interesting.. even more evidence in my eyes that this issue can be fixed with software. with 2.2 confirmed to be heading down the pipe so soon after release I think I'm just gonna stick it out with this here phone and see what happens.
[Vibrant Android Development] thunderstruck!:
I don't know a lot about the specs on the phone, and the current crop of GPS chips. Is it actually state of the art? Is it a proven to be good chip set, or is it something new?
[Vibrant Android Development] pychobj2001:
I am going to try skyhook as well in standalone, in the same screen where you change standalone to ms based, keep it on standalone, and at the bottom of the page turn skyhook on.....and as i am typing this my phone won't boot up now... :( hmmm maybe you shouldn't try this...lol, no i think it might have had more to do w/ the reboot widget i just installed....i'm not sure..well great..i knew i should have done that nandroid when i set up all my stuff...doh!

Edit, I did a nandroid back to stock w/ root, the at boot did the gps fix w/ skyhook and standalone, and phone works fine..i think the reboot widget messed up my phone or something...all is well..i might start doing a nandroid more often now...def when i get my phone to how i like it w/ all my apps installed...jeez, here goes 2 hours of installing my 100+ apps...or do i have more? idk
[Vibrant Android Development] IronWolve:
I use GPS apps allot, reboot works for awhile, then stops working.

Has to be a known bug...
[Vibrant Android Development] thunderstruck!:
I'm starting to wonder if it might be time for a few people with problems to post videos documenting the problem to YouTube. Seems the only way to get action to resolve problems is to publicly humiliate the manufacturers. I am definitely interested in getting a Vibrant, but I absolutely will not spend even one penny of my hard earned money if the GPS or compass is not working right-I don't care if it's bad hardware or poorly written firmware, for $500 if it comes with GPS, I expect it to actually work.
[Vibrant Android Development] JeremyNT:
I'm curious about the surroundings of those who are locking onto 5+ satellites. Around my house I'm locking on one or two with (at best) 5m accuracy. Indoors I get one and about 30m accuracy.

Is this normal? I've used nav in the car and it's just fine for the most part, but initial lock can take a long time if I've got poor cell coverage.
[Vibrant Android Development] Dougefresh91:
This didn't work for me. 0/10 satellite being tracked. Yet my non-phone GPS is using 7/10 inches away from my phone.

I just got back from T-Mobile and the girl working there informed me that you can only exchange your device once in the 14 day period, after that you're stuck using insurance or factory warranty. Idk where she got that from, and it doesn't say that on the receipt, but she was adamant.

She was actually trying to tell me that different apps may work better for the GPS. I showed her Compass and GPS test and tried to explain to her that no matter what app you're using it's still the same satellites in the sky, and if the phone isn't reaching out to them it has nothing to do with apps. She had me download the apps to the store display model and that one wouldn't even track any satellites. Her argument is her phone, her co-workers phone, and the display model do the same thing. Uh... and that's a good thing is it?

Long story short I didn't exchange my phone. I doubt it'd make a difference anyway. I have 7 days left, and if there's no fix by then I'm returning.
[Vibrant Android Development] Dougefresh91:
Maybe it did work. Google maps seems to be tracking me a lot faster. The GPS apps are still saying I'm not connecting to any satellites though so that throws me.
[Vibrant Android Development] JustinLoe:
I saw a t-mobile bulletin that says the issue is known and is software related, though there is no ota or known fix atm.

edit: it also somehow says to not allow exchanges for this issue , I guess because it's software.
[Vibrant Android Development] Dougefresh91:
It seems to me that all this fix is doing is using my wifi to track my location. "accurate to 1500 meters". When it catches a satellite it nails my exact address.

I'll test it again on the way to work in the morning.
[Vibrant Android Development] androidmonkey:
I did the "fix" and my GPS is worse than it was before.

I wish we knew if this was a software issue. I have 1 week to return my phone.
[Vibrant Android Development] captain_awesome:
knowing Tmobile, if they are not allowing exchanges for gps issues then two things are most probably going on:

1) its a sofware issue and not hardware related, and its been verified by the hardware vendor.. (samsung)

2) there is a fix coming down the pipeline very soon that will hopefully alleviate the issues.

in my last almost decade with Tmobile, i may have had some scrapes and dings with Customer Care in the past, but they have never refused an exchange on a phone that had a history of known hardware issues.. whether they acknowledged it or not..

he*l.. when i was on the phone going through my 9 billion warranty exchanged cliqs.. even some of the CSRs were chatting with me about going through the same thing with their devices. i dont know of any other customer service thats that open and easy to deal with.

just hang tight. the kinks will get worked out. i have a good gut feeling on this one.
[Vibrant Android Development] TGA_Gunnman:
All this is is a temp fix while we wait for Samsung to give us a permanent one. My tracking works a lot better as well as others. There is a lot of experimenting you can do to improve GPS, so have at it. I will update OP if I see a decent success rate.
[Vibrant Android Development] Dougefresh91:
I didn't notice last night, but I was getting zero signal after doing this fix. As in no bars. All that was there was a circle with a slash through it. I did yet another factory reset and upon rebooting was at full bars with 3G.

Simply checking the use wireless networks setting alone seems to have had the same effect as this fix. For me personally, anyway.

I'm not trying to be negative, or knock this post, I'm just relaying what happened to me. I want more than anything this GPS issue to be fixed in the next 7 days or it's back to the Sidekick '08 for me. And probably off to Sprint.
[Vibrant Android Development] DreamcastDC:
Luckily I live in California so I have 30 days buyer remorse, so if Samsung doesn't release a patch to fix the GPS by the time my buyer remorse is about to expire, I'm going to return my Galaxy S.
[Vibrant Android Development] larryccf:
The OP's fix worked for me - but time is the true test

went from viewing 11-12 sats with zero lock to 12 sats with 3-5 lock and accuracy to 21 ft (which i'll accept)

google mags also located me exactly where i was - there's a T intersection in front of the house and i stood dead center and that's where it put me, and when i moved to the edge of the road, map blue dot did same

i'm hoping it is totally software related

but if it's relying that much on network info to function, it might not serve my purposes for rural areas where there is no cell coverage

kudos to boodles and to the OP for posting
[Vibrant Android Development] boomerbubba:
Excuse me, I don't understand. The OP's post at the top of this thread actually contains two distinct configuration changes -- one linked to another post by boodies, which in turn is derived from another post by ewrecked. That configuration change (Let's stop calling it a "fix," okay?) has been floating around the forums for several days. The other configuration change (called "optional" in the top post above) was added later in an edit by the OP.

Which one did you use?
[Vibrant Android Development] lvl1nerd:
I had the same GPS issue also, even after I applied both fixes at first, both didn't work. Also, my facebook/twitter thingies couldn't synced either. I was pretty frustrated for the first few days, and was about to return it. But then I read somewhere people got most of the problems fixed by doing a factory reset. And so I did, then applied the GPS fixes again, it worked for me. If you are bothered by the fact that you have to reinstall all the apps again, well just get appbak or titanium backup.

Hope this helps.
[Vibrant Android Development] spiz516:
I have a reliable source that tells me this issue is on top of Samsung's priority list right now and that a fix is coming soon.

It is indeed a software issue. The reason this was missed in the first place was due to TMobile's impatient demands. They moved the release date up multiple times, which forced Samsung to rush for the release. If anything, blame TMobile and be thankful that Samsung is working on this nonstop for us.

Be patient people, it's coming soon.
[Vibrant Android Development] jblade1000:
im curious, is anyone using a standalone gps app? or are all of you just using googlemaps with navigation? only reason i ask is because im on stock settings+standalone mode+skyhook on and i use motonav for navigation and it is great with no issues. even when i run gps test concurrently with it and its only locked into one satellite, it works flawlessly. I just sold my garmin streetpilot c550 on amazon today lol

with googlemaps, it tracks ok most of the time, but accuracy fluxuatiates, and if you lose 3g it stops streaming the maps and cant track you until it reconnects. I know its the 3g because when i switch back to gps test (and gps status for that matter) the satellite is still locked. Standalone ftw

P.S. I've noticed that GPS Test and GPS status can report different things at the same time. Anyone else run more than one gps app to compare data?
[Vibrant Android Development] androidmonkey:
lol, thats what your reliable source told you? Pushing the release date up a week caused this issue...right. Yet they knew about this and its been almost 4 weeks since release and still no fix?

How is this Tmos fault again??
[Vibrant Android Development] spiz516:
The release date was pushed up multiple times. The general public only knows of the 21st-15th change. And if you knew who this source was, you'd agree that he/she is reliable.

And we're only on 2 1/2 weeks since the release date. I know, math is hard.
[Vibrant Android Development] androidmonkey:
So if you are going to blame Tmo, blame AT&T also since the Captivate was released.

I stand corrected, Thursday will be 3 weeks.
[Vibrant Android Development] spiz516:
Unfortunately I have no connections in the Samsung/AT&T relationship. I would assume they demanded a sooner release date to compete against TMobile, but I can't confirm that.

I'm not trying to excuse Samsung for this mistake because it should have been caught early on, but T-Mobile isn't innocent and it appears most people think Samsung is solely to blame. That's all.